Research Interest:My current research is based on the study of marine mammal biology, health and physiology through the establishment of cellular and molecular methods, novel to marine mammal science. In particular, I am interested in a systems-level approach where transcriptomic, physiological and ecological data are combined to understand (and predict) how marine mammals interact with the environment and respond to infectious disease. Applications for these newly developed methods range from understanding the evolution of the immune system and developmental processes to gain insight into the ancestral relationship between organisms, to the impact of a changing environment on the health status of mammals that returned to the aquatic environment in which they spend all (e.g. dolphin and whales) or most (e.g sea lions and seals) of their life.